To determine the fill level of a filling material or bulk material in a container, topology-detecting fill level measuring devices can be used. These measuring devices scan the surface of the filling material and/or bulk material with an electronic signal and can further utilise the knowledge of the three-dimensional surface topology of the filling material and/or the bulk material derived from scanning to determine, assuming a known area underneath the filling material, the volume of the filling material and/or, in the case of a known density, to determine the mass or other variables to be derived from this. To carry out scanning, a beam of an electromagnetic wave is passed over the filling material or the bulk material and the reflection behaviour at different angles is observed and evaluated.
A three-dimensional (3D) fill level measurement or a topology measurement using electromagnetic waves, in particular using radar signals, may open up new application objectives in the measurement of materials.
Patent document DE 10 2007 039 397 B3 describes a method for operating an antenna group having a plurality of transmitters and a plurality of receivers as well as an associated device. Printed publication WO 2015/052699 A1 relates to a method for evaluating the contents of a container by means of a multiplicity of acoustic transmit/receive arrays. Printed publication WO 2015/120885 A1 relates to a measuring device and to a method for detecting properties of an object.